ARTICLES ABOUT GOVERNMENT BY DATE - PAGE 2

Federal prosecutors called it immigration and marriage fraud, but the two South Florida couples they charged - and the man who brought them together - say it was something more like modern love. Just days before the five suspects were scheduled to go to trial in Fort Lauderdale, prosecutors on Wednesday made the rare decision to drop all the charges against them. "The federal government should stay out of our bedrooms," said David O. Markus, one of the defense lawyers. "Not getting a perfect score on 'The Newlywed Game' shouldn't be a federal crime.

For years the government of Venezuela moved at a snails pace towards Cuba's brand of totalitarian communism. In the last few months, the pace has increased and now it is going at break-neck speed towards becoming the second leftist totalitarian regime in the hemisphere. When Hugo Chávez was alive, he at least had the support of Venezuela's poor. He had charisma, was good at speaking to the masses and at striking a balance between Cuba's brand of communism and an old-fashioned Latin American caudillo . Nicolás Maduro, the handpicked successor, lacks all the attributes of his predecessor.

County officials in Florida can't regulate guns anymore, but Broward commissioners think they might be able to control gun sales just by asking. The county is considering teaming up with cities and the Broward Sheriff's Office to tiptoe back into the gun control realm, three years after state law preempted local governments from regulating firearms. Under consideration is a voluntary program under which gun and ammunition vendors who sell to local law enforcement agencies — and to the public — would be asked to adhere to voluntary "sales and marketing safeguards," including running background checks on employees, training employees in how to spot a "straw buyer" whose intent is to distribute guns to others, regularly checking inventory to make sure guns aren't missing and running checks on gun trade-ins to ensure they weren't stolen.

In the wee hours of the morning Friday, the U.S. House voted to stop the Drug Enforcement Administration from interfering with state medical marijuana laws. South Florida's members of Congress split on the amendment, which prohibits the Department of Justice, including the DEA, from spending funds to prevent states from implementing their own medical marijuana laws. U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch and Lois Frankel, both Democrats who represent parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, and U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, a Democrat who represents northern Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties, voted for the amendment (meaning they voted to stop the feds from raiding state sanctioned medical marijuana dispensaries)

Government contracts can give businesses a big boost. Learn how at a Broward Score workshop from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Carl DeSantis Building, Room 1053, Nova Southeastern University, 3301 College Ave., Davie. The class will address where to find government contracting opportunities, how to fill out the paperwork to make a bid, and how to win a contract. The workshop is $30 in advance and $40 at the door. Register at browardscore.org. — Marcia Heroux Pounds

A contract approved Tuesday clears the way for Palm Beach County 's new government watchdog to get to work in June hunting for fraud, waste and abuse. The County Commission Tuesday approved a four-year deal paying $175,000 a year to John Carey to become the county's second-ever inspector general. Carey on June 23 takes over for Inspector General Sheryl Steckler, who announced in October that she would not seek a contract renewal after four years of pioneering the watchdog post, which was created after a string of local government corruption scandals.

With the November elections coming up later this year, Plantation officials are making sure residents have a clear idea of what will be asked on their ballots. For one of the questions, the city council is asking voters to decide between two forms of government — what the city currently has, or moving to a city-manager style of government. In discussions on what would happen should voters pass a referendum this fall to change to a city manager form of government, city officials agreed to using a super majority of council members to hire or fire the potential city manager, plus the fire chief, police chief, city clerk, and city attorney.

The South Florida Center for Jewish Ethics recently presented "Ethical Issues in Leadership and Government" at Congregation Beth El in Miami Beach. This presentation featured lawyer Stephen Zack, partner of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner in Miami and past president of the American Bar Association, Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, Rabbi Akiva Zweig of Talmudic University and Rabbi David Schoen, dean of the South Florida Center for Jewish Ethics on Miami Beach. "We hope that people will recognize the value of learning continuously about Jewish ethics and specifically how it impacts them in their daily lives and all walks of life," Zweig said in an interview regarding the goals for the presentation.

A federal government watchdog who also served in the U.S. Marine Corps is set to become Palm Beach County 's next inspector general. John Carey, the inspector general for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, was picked Thursday to serve in the county's watchdog position — created in a voter-approved response to a string of local government corruption scandals. If Carey's contract is approved by the County Commission, he would take over for outgoing Inspector General Sheryl Steckler in June.